Disability campaigner and mother of two disabled girls Nicola Clark was moved to tears when speaking on the BBC's Jeremy Vine radio show yesterday when discussing the abuse directed at her daughters by people on the street using words like "mong".

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Gervais got in touch with Clark on Twitter to offer "a very public thank you" for her "kind, rational and understanding words in private" since the issue broke.

Clark asked Gervais if she could ask him some questions, and in the following conversation the comedian admitted that his use of the word had been "naÃ¯ve".

"I now understand that you didn't and wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone. Do you understand why people got upset by it?" Clark said.

Gervais replied: "I do now. Never dreamed that idiots still use that word aimed at people with Down's Syndrome. Still find it hard to believe."

Asked how the response to his use of the word online and in the press had made him feel, Gervais continued: "A mixture of confusion, anger, terror and disappointment. But mostly naÃ¯ve. Never meant the word like that and never word. (sic)"

On whether he condoned the behaviour of his Twitter followers who abused those he disagreed with, he added: "Definitely not - reason I contacted you to be honest. The hate mail I had was psychotic and wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Gervais then asked Clark: "What do you think of how the press have portrayed me, out of interest?"

She replied: "I think that had I not spoken to you, I would have believed that you were a bully. The tweets seemed out of step with your work."

Gervais said: "Well all I can do is apologise and hope they don't confuse those people's views with mine... This is better than Frost and Nixon by the way. Speak later."